The 6 is a biggish car (for the time anyway) with a smallish (n/a) engine, so you will have to work that engine to make progress. If you are OK with that, not really much else to worry about.

I believe that is the same engine as used in various 1.8 Fords of the same era, not to mention the Focus based Volvo's (C30, S40 and V50).

The BMW was a little tongue in cheeck!

I have actually had a little epiphany with the Accord this week as I have been back in the office and doing the 3 hour round trip on the motorway.

Really, quite impressed by it. Comfy and easy cruising and no drama. OK, it is a high mileage diesal but I understand why for that purpose it is still nice to have.

To the point I have been looking for a lower mileage/better condition example to run for a while. The 2 ltr petrol looks on paper as a nice car anyway!

I have had the Isuzu 1.7 before and know the engine, in terms of Astras I have owned them and have driven a lot of them so they are a known quantity and I already know my way around he basic maintenance.Which is why that engine with the type of motorway commuting use seemed to be an option.

I am lucky with my office hours that I can miss the worst of the congestion and have a mainly open run until the very last turn off, but while I am quite well paid I don`t want to expose myself too much financially.

Hadn't considered the Mondeos, but they really are BIG. But I am starting to bond with the Honda :-) Finally. Just would want a better example as this one whilst good mechanically has obviously been hammered and there are some electrical problems and the air con is not working (loath to start throwing lots of money at it really at this stage).

I should say that although I am from the UK I am located in Hungary and dealing with the used market here and cars are quite a bit more expensive than the UK. But people run older cars for far longer and I do have a rather good and honest local mechanic who just saved our Subaru from some very big main dealer bills by diagnosing the problem in 5 minutes and showing the best, not at all expensive fix.

They really like VW here, there are a lot of 90s Golfs running around quite happily. But bangernomics doesn`t really apply as a Mondeo for example that in the UK would be 500 pounds here would be more like 2000 or 3000 pounds. So basically if it is 2007 or later it is almost always going to be finance territory. But the climate is dry and hot in the sumer and cold and often dry in the winter so no salty sea air to rust everything down.

I come here because of seveal knowledgable people who I know I can trust for their opinions and guidance.

Edited by Jetsam1 on 18/09/2021 at 08:34

Hadn't considered the Mondeos, but they really are BIG

Can't see any mention of the age of Mazda 6 you are looking at. But as an example, the second gen 6 (2008ish to 2013ish) is 43mm shorter than a Mondeo of the same age. So I think its fair to say if you don't find a 6 too big, a Mondeo isn't going to problematic!.

>> The 08-13 model is a decent car

Likewise the earlier model. But on these, do look closely at the rear wheel arches.